Not only are European leaders very publicly failing to produce even a blueprint for saving the single currency in the near term but now China, which has long been one of the currency’s greatest champions, might just have to pull the plug.

More on what will now be a highly disappointing European summit later.

First, China.

A report in The New York Times this week that Chinese officials may be falsifying data to mask the rate of the economic slowdown lends credence to what many have feared — that China could be facing a hard landing after all.

For Beijing, the slowdown will have important implications for the growth of foreign reserves.